I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Faculty of Arts came into being during the 1974/75 academic session as the Faculty of Arts in the Jos campus of the University of Ibadan and moved to the Bauchi Road Campus during the 1975/76 session. The foundation departments in the faculty were English, History, Languages & Linguistics, Theatre Arts and Religious Studies. In 1975, the University of Jos was established and the Faculty of Arts was renamed the Faculty of Arts of the University of Jos.

Over the years, the foundation departments were consolidated. Experienced staff were recruited while new undergraduate and postgraduate programmes were developed. From the inception of the faculty, the various departments grew steadily in quality and quantity until the mid 1980's when the 60:40 Science-Arts mix of students was enforced in the admission exercises. The student and staff population continued to increase, but less steadily, until the mid 1990's when it registered a sharp decline because of the strict implementation of the 60:40 Science-Arts mix for the student population. In 1990, the National Universities Commission conducted the accreditation of undergraduate programmes in Nigerian Universities. The Departments of History, and Religious Studies secured full accreditation, while English, Languages and Linguistics, as well as Theatre Arts got interim accreditation.

II. THE FACULTY MISSION STATEMENT

The Faculty of Arts through its various departments aims at:

* training of high-level academic and professional manpower in the humanities;

* assisting the community with professional advice by proffering solutions to specific societal problems;

* training citizens to apply their acquired knowledge to solving societal problems

* training students in methods of scholarship, scientific research and other creative endeavours;

* training citizens to make them patriotic with high moral values, good human virtues and resulting in a responsible citizenry.

III THE FACULTY OF ARTS TODAY

In an age of high technology and scientific advances, the liberal arts are often viewed as the sleepy backwaters of the academy, harmless enough perhaps, yet somehow on the sidelines of the action, detached from and irrelevant to the problems of the real world.

Faith in science and technology, on the other hand, has become almost a secular-religion as achievements in those fields have become ever more spectacular. From penicillin to plastics, from digital watches to dial telephones, from radial tyres to robotics, the advances of science and technology are unmistakable in our daily lives while the influence of Shakespeare’s sonnets, or the music of Mozart, or the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, the plays of Wole Soyinka, the prose of Chinua Achebe, the sculptures of Ben Ewunwo etc. is much less obvious.

Regrettably, it is the material aspects of our culture rather than the philosophical, the moral or the aesthetic ones that seem to dominate our policy orientation and our developmental growth trends. This is glaringly reflected in our 60:40 Science: Arts mix Admission Policy and its consequent implications.

Tragically, this rat race in the pursuit of scientific and technological relevance emanates from the Nigerian society which is a society in desperate search for its soul, in search for the very raison d’etre for its being and existence which only the liberal arts can provide.  The faculty therefore has a national role to play :

*in assisting Nigeria as a Nation in the search for her soul.

The moral and ethical crisis facing Nigeria has been well enunciated by successive governments in Nigeria. The ethical revolution drive, 1979 - 1983, the War Against Indiscipline Campaigns 1984 - 1985, the MAMSER crusade 1985 - 1993, and now the National Orientation Agency (NOA) thrust 1994 - 1998, all portend a trend towards the search for Nigeria’s soul. Nigeria’s soul can only be reached through the Liberal Arts, Religious Studies, Philosophy, Theatre/Creative Arts, History, Languages and Cultures.

The Nigerian inner spirit is embedded in these Liberal Arts disciplines and it is a cardinal vision of the mission of the Faculty of Arts to discover this Nigerian Spirit.

The ability to understand our times and cultures and times and cultures other than our own, to appreciate the sources not only of institutions, human existence but also of our beliefs and values, to apply them humanly in our daily lives, and to explore the human experience in all its richness and ambiguity are the main purposes and functions of the liberal arts.

*in assisting Nigeria, as a Nation in the search for her humanity:

a catalogue of the national maladies include: the undesirable manifestations such as greed, dishonesty, impatience, discourtesy, vandalism, indecency, brutality, armed robbery, drunkenness, cultism, tribalism, selfishness, ostentation, indiscipline, corruption, insensitiveness to filthy surroundings and many other identifiable ills.

In contrast to science and technology which are amoral, the Liberal Arts are value-laden disciplines and are targeted towards the nurturing and shaping of moral values and human virtues. Human life is empty without these moral values and human virtues which the liberal arts conduce. For through the liberal arts we discover how people have tried to make moral, spiritual, and intellectual sense of a world in which irrationality, despair, loneliness, and death are as conspicuous as birth, friendship, hope and reason. The liberal arts stretch our imagination and enrich our experience and increase our distinctively human potential.

Through the liberal arts we should learn to make choices, to discriminate between the meritorious and the meretricious between good and evil. Through them we determine which endeavours are worthy of our best efforts and which are specious, and ultimately we learn to know ourselves, our humanity socially, culturally as well as individually

* in facilitating the promotion of patriotism :

the liberal arts have played an integrative role and continue to perform integrative functions in the evolution of national consciousness in Nigeria. The major outward trappings of national sovereignty expressed in the national flag, the national anthem, the national pledge and the national coat-of-arms all derive their form and force from the liberal arts. While literature and creative and performing arts give expression to national consciousness and patriotism, philosophy and history define its content and development. The Liberal Arts in whose territory lay philosophy, history, religious studies, languages and linguistics, creative and performing arts must create in the 21st century the right ideological and cultural climate conducive for the development of national consciousness. It must provide a philosophy and an ideology that cuts across our traditional primordial ethnic, regional, religious and racial barriers, to which all groups will identify with.

* in extricating Nigeria from the current materialistic mono-valued society

- the arts should empower us to properly analyse , correctly synthesise and accurately generalise, acting in the strictly more utilitarian sense. The arts should teach Nigerians to particularly be people whose life has meaning to the extent that it is applied to large and noble purposes that transcend material wealth and personal gain.

The dual purposes of the arts as a reflector or imitator of society as well as the inspirator or creator of values and symbolic forms that chart, compass and reveal new directions within society must be truly fathomed in the 21st century. Consequently, creative cultural activities must inspire the sense of mission towards individual self-consciousness and hence national consciousness.

IV. THE VISION OF THE FACULTY OF ARTS

To nurture a Faculty of the highest standards that nurtures and shapes moral values and human virtues in the citizenry.

V. GOALS AND STRATEGIES:

FS = Faculty Strategy

Goal 1: Comprehensive Strength in Undergraduate Programme

FS1.1 Assist all departments to attain full accreditation.

FS1.2 Fully equip the Open Air Theatre of the Department of Theatre Arts and the Languages and Linguistics Audiovisual Laboratory.

FS1.3 Review from time to time all courses in line with the demands and needs of the University’s immediate, wider and future environment.

FS1.4 Base admission of students strictly on the stipulated guidelines with merit as the major criterion.

FS1.5 Resuscitate activities in applied linguistics and acquire computers as well as software for Hebrew, Greek and Arabic.

FS1.6 Improve library facilities and provide transportation facilities through the college bus system, to facilitate fieldwork.

Goal 2: First class postgraduate and professional programmes in a significant number of areas.

FS2.1 Fund and sustain a faculty-wide Journal as well as Departmental Journals of international repute.

FS2.2 Consolidate and improve on the present areas of strengths in Christian and Islamic Religious Studies, African Traditional Religions and Play Creating.

FS2.3 Develop new areas of strength in local languages of the catchment areas, Gender Studies, International Studies and Central Nigerian Studies.

FS2.4 Provide extra support for the Departments of History and Religious Studies to evolve into centres of excellence.

Goal 3: A quality academic and conducive working environment.

FS3.1 Press for the provision of adequate number of classrooms for students and offices for staff.

FS3.2 Support the provision at the permanent site, of an indoor theatre and studio for the Department of Theatre Arts; a phonetic and a standard audio-visual laboratory for Languages and Linguistics, English and Religious Studies Departments.

FS3.3 Ensure the availability of adequate and continuous supply of electricity to the faculty.

FS3.4 Increase significantly, the postgraduate student intake to all the departments in the faculty, while complying with the 60:40 Science:Arts mix, at the undergraduate level.

FS4.1 Recruit top-level dedicated academic and administrative staff .

FS4.2 Establish mutually beneficial linkages with universities, corporate bodies and individuals, locally and abroad.

FS4.3 Provide incentives in the form of improved facilities, paper publication bonuses, adequate research grants as well as adequate funds for conferences, seminars and workshops.

FS4.4 Assess the strong and weak areas of departments and staff through an Annual Performance Audit.

Goal 5: Effective and efficient utilisation of limited resources.

FS5.1 Strictly budget for academic positions in the faculty using NUC and other university Guidelines.

FS5.2 Promote the increased funding from NUC through increased postgraduate student intake.

FS5.3 Support participation in the long vacation programme run by the Centre For Continuing Education.

FS 5.5 Share a college bus (run in a self funding way) for field work by staff and students, with other faculties in the same college.

Goal 6: Increased provision and use of information technology

FS6.1 Provide free Internet access for all staff and students.

FS6.2 Establish and maintain a Faculty Computer Laboratory.

FS6.3 Provide personal computers for all Senior Lecturers and Professors.

Goal 7: Decentralisation and Transparency in Administration

FS 7.1 Foster the installation of a collegiate system.

FS 7.2 Discuss and approve annual budgets at the Faculty and Departmental Boards.

Goal 8: Increased participation of a diverse range of stakeholders

FS8.1 Devise effective revenue generation activities in all departments of the faculty, for individuals and corporate organisations through the University Consultancy Services Limited.

FS8.2 Encourage departments to source for financial and material support through international linkages and exchange programmes with overseas universities.

FS8.3 Support calls to industries, parents, students and alumni to make cash donations and or relevant equipments to the University.

FS8.4 Encourage charitable individuals and organisations to endow chairs in the various departments.

V. FACULTY ACTION PLAN

1998 - 1999

Source for financial inputs from religious bodies, traditional rulers, states and local government administrators, civil societies to support academic activities in Inter-Faith Studies and Central Nigerian Studies.

Correct all deficiencies identified during the accreditation exercise.

Improve the Central Library facilities and set up Departmental Libraries.

Consolidate the Preliminary French Programme.

Resuscitate the Diploma in American Studies Programme.

Increase academic activities in Gender and Family Studies.

Establish a french programme for researchers, open to all postgraduate students.

Introduce the B.A Mass Communication in the Department of Theatre Arts.

Commence the Diploma in Islamic Studies Programme.

Evolve a comprehensive plan for the creation of The Centre for Central Nigerian Studies.

Increase research activities in Inter-Faith Studies through thematic interdisciplinary research, in collaboration with Centre for Development Studies.

Commence the operation of the collegiate system.

1999 - 2000

Promote increased funding to the Faculty through increased postgraduate intake and the use of an internal funding model based on NUC guidelines.

Introduce approval of annual budgets at the Faculty, Departmental and Centre Boards.

Introduce programmes in Nigerian Languages within the Department of Languages and Linguistics.

Introduce a Diploma in English and French for special purposes. (hod what is this?)

Intensify academic activities in archaeology within the Department of History.

Intensify academic activities in Religious Philosophy within the Department of Religious Studies.

Support the construction of an Indoor Theatre at the permanent site.

2000 - 2001

Commence the use of the college bus system to facilitate field research work.

Intensify academic activities in fine arts within the Department of Theatre Arts.

Intensify academic activities in Folklore, Literary and Cultural Studies, within existing departments.

Commence Executive M.A. Degree in French for Diplomats and Legal Practitioners.

Acquire software for teaching Hebrew, Greek and Arabic.

2001 - 2002

Provide personal computers for all Senior Lecturers and Professors

Commence a Diploma and a Certificate programme in French Studies as well as a Pronunciation Proficiency Certificate.

Commence Diploma in Cultural studies.

Intensify academic activities in Tourism within the Theatre Arts and Mass communication programmes.

Commence a Unit of Recorded Instructions for English Department.(hod what is this?)

2002 - 2003

Support the provision of more recreational facilities for students and staff in collaboration with the private sector.

Commence the Department of Economic History as an autonomous department.

Commence M.A. French for Business, Banking and Commercial interests.

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